Gulfmaster « AZ Fine Time Blog

Debuting at Baselworld 2014, Casio’s latest introduction to the G-Shock line up has finally arrived. In a sense, the predecessor to last years extremely successful Rangeman, the new Gulfmaster has similar functions, and so much more. The focus on “ease of use” is something prevalent in the latest and greatest G’s, and the Gulfmaster is no exception. Today we introduce the 2 new Gulmaster’s, the black resin with blue plated stainless steel bezel GWN1000B-1B and the yellow resin with stainless steel bezel GWN1000-9A.

Both models in the line up have identical features, just different color combos. To start, they are both solar powered and radio controlled keeping perfect accuracy and lasting up to 6 months in the dark from a full charge. These new analog digital models also feature Casio’s Smart Access technology, which allows the user to adjust timezones easily by unlocking and pulling out the crown. The second hand will point to the current city you are set for and by turning the crown, you can adjust it to one of the 29 cities listed around the inside of the bezel.

The digital display has several different possible displays while in the standard timekeeping mode. By pushing the upper left button you change the display. Currently, the display reads the same as the analog time. Push the button again and it will display your world time (a secondary timezone). Again and it will display the age of the moon. Another push will display day of the week, month and day. And lastly, one more push will show you month and date, but also a barometric graph.

Now we start getting into the really special features of this piece. Pushing the lower right button will control your version 3 triple sensor, which is by far the smallest and most accurate Casio has made so far. Pushing the button once, you will hear a single “beep” which means you have entered barometer mode. Your reading will appear as well as the barometric chart. By pushing the upper left button in barometer mode, you can see your barometric pressure differential which is indicated by the second hand and using the bezel. If the second hand points to the 3:00 area, that means no change. You can see the increase or decrease if the second hand points to the “+ over” or “- under” part of the bezel. Pushing the button again will bring up your compass, which you will hear 2 beeps for, where the second hand will point magnetic north and your angle value will be displayed in the digital screen. This will run for up to one minute before turning off automatically. A third push with three beeps means you are in altimeter mode which will display current altitude and an altitude tendency chart. You can also check your altitude differential by pushing the lower left button twice. The fourth and final push will beep four times, and indicates it is now in thermometer mode. The digital display will read your temperature, which is most accurate when off the wrist for 20-30 minutes. With all of these modes you have the option to read in metric or US measurement. All you have to do is unlock and pull out the crown in whichever mode you want to adjust, use the lower left button to get in the “measurement adjust mode” and turn the crown to which you prefer. Close the crown and it is all set.

One of the most interesting features of the Gulfmaster is that this piece not only tells you current barometric pressure, but also has an alert for any dramatic changes. It basically tells you if a storm is coming! This piece will automatically check the barometric pressure every two hours, even outside of barometer mode. Should the barometric pressure drop, this means the weather will deteriorate and and an audible alert will go off. You can see the sub dial at 10:00’s lower half is used for the barometer. The red hand will point to either an arrow down for sudden fall in pressure, an arrow up for a sudden increase in pressure, a curved arrow pointing down which means a sustained rise in pressure changing to a fall or a curved arrow pointing up which is a sustained fall in pressure changing to a rise. This will also display on the digital screen. Of course, if you don’t want this alert to go off, you can turn it on or off by holding the upper left button down for more then two seconds in barometer or time keeping mode, and toggle the “info” mode to off.

There’s still a lot more that these pieces can do. By pushing the lower left button you can adjust your mode. From time keeping mode, pushing it once will take you to world time mode. You will adjust this secondary timezone the same way you adjust the home time, by using the Smart Access crown. You can also swap your home and world time by holding down the upper left button for more then 3 seconds. Pushing the lower left button again will take you into tide and moon phase data mode. The red hand at the 10:00 sub dial will show the level of the tide and the digital display will indicate the date and time of the level of that tide. By pushing the upper left button in this mode, you can change the digital display to the age of the moon display.

After the moon and tide data, your lower left button will take you to stopwatch mode. The stopwatch is engaged and paused by pushing the lower right button. If you push the upper left button while it is running, you will split the time measurement. If you pause it, the hit the upper left, it will reset. This can measure from 1/100th of a second to 24 hours. The next mode will be your countdown timer. You can count down from as low as 1 minute up to as high as 60 minutes. To set your timer, you will unlock and turn the Smart Access crown to the desired time. Once it has finished, you will hear ten beeps.

The next mode is for your alarm. There are actually 5 different alarms that you can set, and there is also an hourly signal that will beep once on the hour, every hour. To switch through alarms 1 – 5, and adjust your hourly signal, you use the upper left button to scroll through. Use the lower right button to turn the alarms and hourly signal on or off. To set the time of the alarm, pull the crown out and turn to adjust the minute hand. Once it is at the desired minutes, you push the lower left button to adjust the hour hand. Once it is set to the time desired, close the crown. The alarms and hourly signal will go off, even if outside of alarm mode. Another interesting bit of info is that if your minute hand happens to be blocking the digital screen when you adjust modes, the hand will move itself out of the way to either the 4:00 or 8:00 for 3 seconds so you can see the screen completely.

As I mentioned before, this piece is radio controlled for perfect time keeping. The final mode when using the lower left button to adjust is the R/C mode. You can manually in this mode by holding down the lower right button for more then 2 seconds. The digital display will show your current strength of signal level showing either L1, L2, or L3. L3 will be the strongest signal, L1 the weakest. If nothing appears, you cannot get signal. The good thing is, this piece will automatically attempt to receive the signal in the middle of the night, so manual reception shouldn’t be necessary.

With all those features, you couldn’t guess there would be more… But there is. In the dark, you have two options. Neo-brite luminova is utilized for clear legibility at night, but if you want, push the upper right button and you have a dual LED backlight. The light has two duration settings. the first is a 1.5 second duration and the second is a 3 second duration. To change the duration, you would pull out the crown in time keeping mode and push the lower left button four times. Turn the crown to the desired duration and then close the crown. They also have an auto light switch that turns the light on when you move your wrist from down to the position you would view your watch (over a 40° angle). You can turn this on or off with basically the same procedure as changing duration , but only push the lower left button three times instead of four.

Some more amazing functions of the GWN series are if you can’t see the digital read out because the hands are in the way, you hold the upper right (light) button down and push the lower left button, the hands will all move themselves out of the way of the screen to see the screen clearly. Because this is a G-Shock, you get shock, gravitational force and vibration resistance thanks to Alpha Gel and Hybrid Mount construction. There is also 200m water resistance as you will find on all G-Shock’s. The technology in this piece is incredible, using multiple motors that have been reduced in size by 26%,making it incredibly easy to use especially considering all it does. The Gulfmaster also has an automatic hand correction feature to ensure alignment is correct.

The Gulfmaster’s will measure out at 55.8mm wide, 16mm thick and weighs in at 101g. For its size (as is true with most G-Shock’s) it wears smaller as you have to account for the flared out case sides for the sensor on the left, and crown protector on the right. Both pieces retail for $499.95 and you can purchase the black and blue GWN1000B-1B HERE or purchase the yellow GWN1000-9A HERE.